HyperMusic
HyperMusic servers could allow storage and access to music over networks. Global hypermusic or the "Music Web" would allow user-defined paths through several different pieces of music. Listeners may have unlimited access to music and pay a single subscription fee. HyperAudio links would make them aware of other related musical artifacts. A personal profile of every listener could be maintained on the server along with all the links they created. So a personalized collection of linked music could be accessed from anywhere. This would enable a more active form of listening to music as well as web of new musical experiences. Even a musical piece on CD could be segmented with multiple paths in the same composition. Current trends towards Interactive Audio CD-ROMs such as those by Peter Gabriel and Todd Rundgren indicates that HyperMusic is inevitable.
The `HyperMusik Tunnel' is prototype system, that I recently developed, to allow navigation of musical compositions using a spatial metaphor. Users watch a rotating triangle called the `Musik Navigator' going through a tunnel. Users are able to control the piece by clicking inside or outside the tunnel to go into or out of musical spaces. As they enter new musical spaces, the color palette of the tunnel changes, indicating the tone or mood of the musical space. The users can also see a map of the composition, indicating their location in the piece, as well as any multi-linear threads available in the piece.
Several systems have been developed for games such as one by LucasArts, called iMUSE, that allows navigational and parametric control over music. Musically logical transitions are created for some scenes, in others randomly generated musical elements are used. New compositional tools like Opcode's `Max' map interactivity on to MIDI files. A game may use up to 100 MIDI files. There even exists a Hierarchical Music Specification Language (HMSL).